One of the most popular attractions at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum is to undergo a £10 million transformation.

Grants from Advantage West Midlands and the European Development Fund will be used to improve Blists Hill Victorian Town - the reproduction of a small 19th century manufacturing and mining community. The project involves a series of major investments over the next 18 months and is aimed at bringing in an additional 100,000 extra visitors a year.

Mark Pearce, AWM partnerships director, said: "Ironbridge Gorge is the region's only World Heritage Site and it is vital that we develop and invest to preserve it for future generations and to promote it worldwide. "Tourism is vital to the economic well-being of the region and is a growing sector of the regional economy - each year 124 million visits generate £4.8 billion in spending. With the eyes of the world on the UK in six years for London 2012, investing in attractions like Blists Hill now means that they will be well equipped to handle an influx of tourists before, during and after the Games."

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust chairman Barrie Williams said: "This will ensure that Blists Hill has every chance to flourish for another thirty years."